EMAIL, TEXTS & TWEETS: INFORMATION MANAGEMENT ISSUES FOR PUBLIC POWER UTILITIES PRESENTED BY: Zandra Pulis Deputy General Counsel & Chief Records Management Officer July 24, 2018
CHALLENGE • Explosion of information • Stressed record management • Varied methods of communicating Utilities are creating and maintaining an increasing volume of information which needs to be readily accessible and properly maintained. 2
#THESTRUGGLEISREAL 70% - Entities that permit texting for business 46% - Don’t formally capture/retain texts 23% - Unlikely they could produce texts from their organizational leader Lack of funds = Top reason texts are not captured Plans to begin archiving texts: •20% not likely ever •47% I don’t know 3
COMPLIANCE MATTERS • Texas Public Information Act • Local Government Records Act of 1989 • Litigation & discovery 4
TEXAS PUBLIC INFORMATION ACT • Based on the premise that information belonging to governmental entities belongs to the people • Government in the sunshine • Requires disclosure of requested public information • Begin with the assumption that information is subject to required disclosure • Fines and confinement 5
WHAT IS “PUBLIC INFORMATION”? • Information • Written • Produced • Assembled • Collected • Maintained • Pursuant to a law or ordinance or • In connection with the transaction of official business 6
LOCAL GOVERNMENT RECORDS ACT OF 1989 • Requires local governments to adopt a program for the management of the • creation, use, maintenance, retention, preservation and disposal of records • for the purpose of reducing costs and improving efficiency • Class A misdemeanor 7
WHAT IS A “RECORD”? • Record • Documents the transaction of public business • Created or received by local government • Non-Records • Convenience copies • Blank forms • Reference materials 8
ALL RECORDS ARE PUBLIC INFORMATION, BUT NOT ALL PUBLIC INFORMATION IS A RECORD Records Public Information Non Records 9
ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS • Work Devices & Accounts Email • Personal Devices & Accounts • Texts Messaging • Jabber • Instant messaging • Facebook • Twitter Social • LinkedIn Media • Instagram • YouTube 10
TPIA • 2013 amendments modernized “public information”: • Any electronic communication • In connection with “official business” • any matter over which the governmental entity has authority, administrative or advisory duties • TPIA specifically applies to: Instant Internet Other electronic Email Texts messaging postings communications 11
ADKISSON V. PAXTON (2015) Request: Emails, including those in the County Paxton commissioner’s personal email account, related to his official capacity. Personal correspondence expressly excluded. Held: Information must be disclosed. A right to privacy does not exist simply because the messages are maintained in a personal email account. County owns any information made in the transaction of public business. 12
TPIA & SOCIAL MEDIA • Facebook postings on city’s FB page are public information (OR2016-23161) • FB terms of service provide posted information belongs to the page owner • Internal policy encouraged the use of social media to advance the goals and missions of the city • Public comments are records 13
SEABROOK, TEXAS ORR (2016) Seabrook Paxton Request: All comments made in response to a Facebook post made by the City of Seabrook. Held: Information must be disclosed. Public comments are records. 14
SOCIAL MEDIA “Content posted by the agency or the public on an agency’s social media website is a state record….subject to State Records Retention requirements.” Texas Dept. of Information Resources Social Media Guidelines 15
TPIA & SOCIAL MEDIA • Twitter: • emergency or outage alerts • Instagram: • photos from a substation siting open house • YouTube • safety presentations 16
TPIA & MESSAGING • AG consistently finds that texts are public information when they are exchanged by public officials and employees because they transact business • Texts that do not relate to government business are not public information 17
RM & EMAIL, TEXTS & TWEETS • Email • Texts • Social media • Should be retained as a record if: Documents business or evidences an Exist elsewhere? NO important process? YES 18
RETAINING ELECTRONIC RECORDS • Record should be authentic and whole: • Metadata • Links • Attachments • Retention should be applied similar to paper records • Various locations • Cloud storage • Content management system • Outlook files 19
RETAINING ELECTRONIC RECORDS Capture/Retention Solution Rudimentary Better Best Comprehensive archiving X Auto ‐ inclusion through configuration X Social media capture X Platform SLA X Platform native tools X Application programming interface X Manual X • Cut & paste • Screenshots Print & file X 20
RECORDS THAT SHOULD BE RETAINED 21
COMMON RETENTION OF CORRESPONDENCE TYPES Administrative •Planning, forming, implementing, and modifying programs, services, policies or procedures. •Example: A change in the standard mileage 4 YEARS reimbursement rate General •Content relating to the regular business operations of programs, services, policies or procedures. •Example: We are processing payroll. Please do no make any changes in SAP to the previous pay period. 2 YEARS Routine •Internal notices, meeting, requests or letters of transmittal. •Example: System generated e-mail that is simply a copy AV – administratively of a payroll record that already exists in SAP. valuable 22
NON RECORDS 23
NON RECORDS 24
BEST PRACTICES • Policies • Communication/Social Media • Appropriate use of various platforms for business purposes • Internal – who can create accounts & post • External – manage the expectations of users • Records Management • Electronically Stored Information • Governance • Tone at the Top • Training 25
TAKEAWAYS • Be mindful about what gets put in writing or texts • Be thoughtful about the communication platforms you use • Be thorough when responding to TPIA requests • Practice good records management • Monitor technology solutions 26
Questions? 27
Thank You Zandra Pulis Deputy General Counsel & Chief Records Management Officer, Legal & Administration CPS Energy | 145 Navarro St. San Antonio, Texas 78205 | MD: 101008 Office: 210.353.2351 | Mobile: 210.347.9482 cpsenergy.com | email: zlpulis@cpsenergy.com
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